Hi,
I think to have deciphered this up to now un-identified unit with this so special double length wavy fuselage bar visible over some rare Fw190 in Cz and South-East Germany, all with under-wings bomb racks.
Known pictures are: (Thanks to any of you able to add more informations)
1st staffel with white markings:
5+ ~ at Straubing
?+ ~ Fw 190A-7, W.Nr.340024 but with a fighter-bomber wings (one gun and two ETC-50 bomb racks per wing), in a forest, (possibly at Brandis ?).
2nd staffel, with black markings:
6+~, Fw 190F-3, W.Nr.670926, at Hörsching
(13+ ~, Fw 190F-8, W.Nr.580638, profile book No 4 by Claes Sundin, at Budweis, source unknown)
14+ ~
16+ ~
2 or 2x + ~, Fw 190F-3 at Prag-Ruzyne (Cf Luftwaffe over Cz territory p 64)
25+ ~ , Fw 190F-8
3rd staffel and Stab airplanes not photo documented.
So we have:
_ an SG unit with only two “staffeln” documented.
_ Flying over Cz and South Germany
_ With probably no or very few operational aircrafts by the end of the war, since we have very few aircrafts pictured and most of them badly damaged.
_ With operational group markings that seems to exclude school units from the SG101-110 series
_ But with old A-7 and F-3 models, as well as some high fuselage digit like ‘black 25’ that exclude any operational unit.
From all this I find only one unit that fit perfectly and that is IV./SG151 .
_ It’s Stab, 10 and 11 Staffeln flew over the considered territories but not it’s 12./SG151 staffel that was moved to Danzig area for anti-ship training missions using mainly Fw190 but also some Ju87.
_ Stab, 10 & 11./SG151 got order to disbanded on April 3rd , witch was effective for April 19th that explain that all flyable machines were probably moved to others units and then not pictured by May45 or after. (10./SG151 was disbanded at Straubing, where white 5 was pictured and 11./SG151 at Schongau)
_ It’s role as reserve unit explain perfectly the markings
_ And a twice length wavy fuselage bar match perfectly with a fourth group markings
So now the good thing would be to find some Fw190 and Ju87 from 12./SG151 with a yellow wavy line, with possibly not exactly the same wavy line because they are very far from their original unit and under III./SG151 then I./SG151 command on the West front.
So I looked to their older airbases (Rahmel 17/8/44 to xx/02/45 then Perleberg xx/02/45 to xx/04/45 then Lübeck-Blankense xx/04/45 - xx/05/45 under III./SG151 command, and finally disbanded at Großenbrode where it had been attached to I./SG 151. Unfortunatly all poorly documented.
But I find those two, possibly from 12./SG151:
Ju 87 41+ ~ yellow, at Danzig Langfuhr (close to Rahmel)
And finally with the help from Göran Larsson and Gerhard Stemmer,
Fw 190 8+~. The original caption was “The last Staffel at Mecklenburg". Last Staffel because 12./SG151 was not disbanded before the end contrary from 10 & 11./SG151. And Parchim-Mecklenburg is on the way between Perleberg and Lübeck-Blankensee, so again very probably 12./SG151.
So yes I think that until contradictory information come out we can consider that this double length wavy fuselage bar is the distinctive markings from Stab, 10 and 11./SG151, the one from 12./SG151 being slightly more conventional.
Regards,
Olivier MENU
Photo Sources:
none of them is extracted from any books.
_ White marking is from Malan Heslop Photograph Collection via byu.edu
_ Black marking is I think from an old ebay auction
_ Danzig photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/280920...7631648764713/
_Fw190 from 12./SG151 come from an old Ebay Auction